Posts Tagged ‘accountability’

Back to school organizing Back to school organizing is important for student success. Young students acquire skills with guidance and supervision. The benefits of organizing include: School readiness – Students establish a ready-to-learn mindset. Independence – Students who acquire school readiness skills become more independent with practice. Accountability – Young students learn accountability when expectations are clearly stated. Back to school organizing is imperative for older students because they are expected to be independent and ready to master these 3 critical life skills: Time Management Time management skills include planning, preparation, prioritizing and re-prioritizing, meeting deadlines. It’s now or never for older students to be able to manage their own time. Parents are no longer supervising and teachers expect students to have these skills by the time they are in the academic setting or workforce. Step 1 Review: The student should review all of the requirements in school and at work. Step 2: Plan: Using the review information the student should create a weekly plan and a daily plan. Every night the student should review what he/she accomplished and check what is coming up for the next 2 days. This step will minimize surprises and enable the to make any necessary adjustments. Work on breaking down long term, larger projects into mini-projects. Don’t ascribe to the myth that you work better under pressure and sacrifice quality or accuracy (and even sleep). Accountability Accountability includes motivation, initiative and follow through skills. It’s in the older students best interest to have a system for accountability that they can use on a daily basis. It can be as simple as using a checklist, a planner, or an app. Accountability is highly prized in academic and vocational settings. Older students face new distractions especially when they are not living at home. They need to determine… read more →

Back to school organizing tips Back to school organizing tips for older students are imperative as young adults are expected to be more independent. As a Professional Organizer and Time Management Coach (and former educator) my definition of being independent requires that the older student practice 3 critical life skills: Time management Accountability Self care Time management Back to school organizing tips for older students begin with time management. As students leave high school and plan to enter either a trade school, college or employment it is more critical than ever to know how to: Plan, prepare – The older student needs to practice how to plan ahead and prepare independently. They can no longer rely upon their parents, teachers, employers or friends to tell them how to plan and prepare. In order to effectively plan students need a reliable time management system that they will use on a daily basis. This may include using a planner, setting alerts, and utilizing checklists. Here is a helpful article about time management tips. Prioritize, re-prioritize – The older student will have to learn to balance competing interests such as school assignments versus social invitations. Time management requires establishing priorities while being flexible when new situations arise. The student may have to re-prioritize when confronted with an unexpected illness or family emergency. Successful prioritizing depends upon effective planning. Meet deadlines – Deadlines are helpful for completing tasks and projects. Read my post about deadlines for more tips. The key to getting things done is to create deadlines for yourself. Accountability Back to school organizing tips include accountability. Older students find themselves with much greater freedom. This may require coaching to support the following skills: Self motivation – It’s difficult to teach self motivation. Like all of us, older students need to be able to tap… read more →

Time management for self care Time management for self care means making the time that you need for health and well being and committing to it. Nothing could be more important because you and those around you are depending on both of those things. Think about the consequences of delaying or ignoring self care and how it affects your performance at home and work. If you consider just the financial consequences of illness and stress because you are unable to manage your time you may incur expenses related to medical visits, prescriptions, therapy or counseling, or even lost wages due to absenteeism. As your Professional Organizer and Time Management Coach I encourage you to look at developing time management systems that will enable you to minimize stress, get adequate and regular sleep, set realistic goals, and establish healthy boundaries. In other words, time management IS self care! As with any change in behavior and routines it is important to take it slow. Read on for valuable tips and how to start. Time management | How to start Select just 1 self care habit that you want to pay attention to and practice incorporating into a consistent routine. A lot of people give up because they try to work on too many things at once. Remember to be gentle with yourself if it is difficult at first. It is natural to get off track in the beginning. Since it is an important self care habit that you are choosing, keep practicing it rather than abandoning it. Your new self care habit will become more natural over time. That is when you truly realize the benefits. Some people find it helpful to use an accountability system to monitor progress. Accountability provides a visible means of looking at your progress as well as… read more →